Donna Anna

Anna, Donna (Mozart: Don Giovanni). Soprano. Daughter of the Commendatore, she is betrothed to Don Ottavio. Her father is killed by her seducer, Don Giovanni, and she determines to avenge him. She and Ottavio plot with Donna Elvira, whom the Don has won and then deserted, to prove he is the murderer and they come to a banquet costumed and masked. They accuse Giovanni of murder, but he escapes. He is later damned to hell by her father's statue. She asks Ottavio to wait for her until she has got over her father's death. Arias: Or sai chi l'onore … (‘Now you know who tried to steal my honour’); Non mi dir (‘Do not tell me’). All Italianate sopranos of all nationalities sing this role. Over the years these have included Pauline Viardot-García, Ina Souez, Rose Bampton, Marianne Schech, Ljuba Welitsch, Elisabeth Rethberg, Gundula Janowitz, Elisabeth Grümmer, Sena Jurinac, Hilde Zadek, Suzanne Danco, Teresa Stich-Randall, Birgit Nilsson, Margaret Price, Joan Sutherland, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Cheryl Studer, and Karita Mattila. Created (1787) by Teresa Saporiti.